We don't want anybody bombing anybody.
"Two Jewish Defense League leaders arrested in alleged bomb plot
December 12, 2001 Posted: 4:03 PM EST (2103 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Federal authorities arrested two leaders of the Jewish Defense League on Wednesday in what law enforcement sources alleged was an aborted plot to blow up Arab-American institutions in the Los Angeles area, including a prominent mosque.

Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel were taken into federal custody following early morning raids by members of an anti-terrorism task force, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney John S. Gordon. More details are expected to be released at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

"We are working on a complaint charging Rubin and Krugel to blow [up] some type of target based on an inside informant," Mrozek said. "The plot was not carried out."

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Law enforcement sources said that information from an informant led investigators to where Rubin and Krugel were meeting allegedly to advance the plot. Authorities then took them into custody. The alleged bombings, however, were not imminent, the sources said.

The Jewish Defense League is a militant Los Angeles-based group that advocates use of "all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence" to defend the interests of Jews as well as the return of all Jews to Israel, according to its Web site. Its logo contains a silhouette of a clenched fist over the Star of David.

The Web site identifies Rubin as the group's chairman.

Founder Meir Kahane originally formed the organization to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts in New York. The group gained notoriety when its members were linked to bombings, most of them aimed at Soviet targets in retaliation for the treatment of the Jewish population.

Kahane left the group and moved to Israel. A power struggle ensued, with Rubin among the contenders for its leadership.

Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990. El Sayyid Nosair, 36, an Egyptian-born Muslim, was convicted in connection with the shooting. "